Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
On Monday , Apple updated its intact parentage ofiMacand Mac Pro systems . And while the new Mac Pro manikin wo n’t be available until sometime in August , the new iMacs are in the Macworld Lab decent now .
The first system of rules to finish up our testing regime is the new entry - level iMac , a 21.5 - inch model with a 3.06GHz Core i3 CPU , and our Speedmark 6 test solvent show an impressive performance betterment over the organization it replace .
In the last generation of iMac , all but the highest - remainder standard conformation extend to utilize the old Core 2 dyad line of processors . But these new iMacs have now wholly transition from using the Intel Core 2 Duo processors to Intel Core i3 and Core i5 processors . The Core i3 processor used in this iMac supports Intel ’s Hyper - Threading technology , which gives the two - core processor four “ practical core ” for salutary performance in multithreaded app .
Another positive footstep is the inclusion of discrete graphic across the entire product line , with the entry - level exemplar using the ATI Radeon HD 4670 graphic previously available on just the two midway - tier up systems of last generation . ( The Nvidia incorporate - nontextual matter applied science used in the old generation of iMacs is n’t compatible with the Core i3 processor , so a change was inevitable . )
In addition to the 3.06GHz Core i3 processor and Radeon HD 4670 graphics with 256 MB of dedicated GDDR3 SDRAM , the new entryway - tier iMac includes 4 GB of 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM and a 500 GB hard campaign for $ 1199 — the same price as the model it put back . That older manikin had Nvidia GeForce 9400 M integrate graphic , a 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo mainframe , the same 500 GB operose drive , and 4 GB of slower 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM .
In our tests of the new entryway - storey iMac , we found that the new system was a little more than 20 percent faster overall than the Core 2 Duo system it replaces , and just about 9 per centum faster than the old $ 1499 3.2GHz Core 2 twosome manikin . We see impressive improvement over the previous 21.5 - inch systems in processor - intensive project , like MathematicaMark ( 40 pct ) , Cinebench ( 25 percent ) , and Compressor ( 11 pct ) .
The biggest addition , however , was in computer graphic carrying out . The former entranceway - level iMac , with its integrate artwork , lagged well behind the new Core i3 iMac with the Radeon HD 4670 distinct artwork . The new system was able to display nigh four times as many frames per second as its predecessor . It even outdo the honest-to-god $ 1499 model by 12 material body per secondly .
But faster though the Modern Core i3 organization is , it ’s still 15 percent ho-hum than the previous top - of - the - line quad - pith 2.66GHz Core i5 iMac . That quad - core i5 system was 29 percent quicker in Cinebench , 60 percent quicker in MathematicaMark , and about 20 per centum faster in Compressor . Interestingly , the new 3.06Ghz Core i3 was faster than the quad - core 2.66GHz iMac in iTunes importation and WorldBench multitasking tests .
We ’re busy testing the rest of the iMacs , so check off back soon for more trial consequence and full reviews of the new systems .
21.5-inch iMac Core i3/3.06GHz benchmarks
skillful results inbold . Reference systems initalics .
How we test . Speedmark 6 score are relative to those of a 2.13GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook , which is assign a score of 100 ( higher heaps are better ) . Call of Duty grade is in frames per second ( gamy is good ) . MathematicaMark is a execution mark ( higher is better ) . All others are in minute : second base ( grim is better ) . The Modern 21.5 - inch 3.06GHz Core i3 iMac was tested with OS X 10.6.4 . Both 21.5 - column inch 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo iMacs were tested with OS X 10.6.1 . The 27 - inch 2.66GHz Core i5 iMac was tested with OS X 10.6.2 . The 20 - inch 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo iMac ( early 2009 ) was tested with 10.6.1 . We duplicated a 1 GB file , create a Zip archive in the Finder from the two 1 GB files and then unzip it . We converted 90 minutes of AAC audio files to MP3 using iTunes ’ High Quality setting . In iMovie ’ 09 , we imported a television camera archive and export it to iTunes using the Mobile Devices setting . We ran a Timedemo at 1024 - by-768 with 4X anti - aliasing on in Call of Duty 4 . We import 150 JPEGs into iPhoto ’ 09 . The Photoshop Suite test is a set of 14 scripted tasks using a 50 mebibyte file . Photoshop ’s memory was set to 70 percent and chronicle was determine to Minimum . We used Compressor to encode a .mov filing cabinet to the software ’s H.264 for video podcast stage setting . We ripped a videodisk chapter to the operose drive . We recorded how long it took to fork up a scene with multiprocessors in Cinebench . We ran the Evaluate Notebook test in MathematicaMark 7 . We start the WorldBench 6 multitasking test on a Parallels 5 VM running Windows 7 Professional . We timed the import and thumbnail / prevue creation clock time for 150 photos in Aperture.—Macworld Lab testing by James Galbraith , Mckinley Noble , Blair Hanely Frank , and Chris Holt .
